leaders of israel and egypt. he reiterated america's support for their right to defend themselves. >>> it was president obama's first news conference since being reelected, and it was personal. the cbs reporter daniel nottingham reports the attack on the u.s. consulate in libya has sparked a nasty political battle in washington. >> if senator mccain and senator graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. >> reporter: at his first news conference since his reelection, the president defended un ambassador susan rice. senators john mccain and lindsey graham say they will block her elevation to secretary of state because of comments she made days after the attack on the consulate in libya. >> for them to go after the un ambassador who had nothing to do with benghazi and besmirch her reputation is outrageous. >> reporter: arizona senator john mccain took exception >> i doubt that the families of these brave americans who were murdered would believe that we are "picking on" anyone. >> reporter: the president also addressed the fiscal cliff. one way to avoid it

the situation in egypt. the cease-fire in gaza, and the libya investigation when we sit down with senator john mccain. it's a fox news sunday exclusive. then is the looming fiscal cliff casting a shadow over shoppers and investors this holiday season? visions of bargains are dancing in the heads of consumers. will the possibility of higher attackses slow them down. we'll talk with matthew shay, president of the national retail federation and john sweeney of fidelity investments. the holiday is over for white house and congressional leaders trying to make a deal. we'll ask our sunday panel if they can reach a compromise. >>> a thanksgiving tradition, our power player of the week has me dancing with turkeys, all right now on "fox news sunday." >> chris: hello again from fox news in washington. on this holiday weekend we're watching several major foreign policy developments from egypt to gaza to the continuing converse over the benghazi attack. to talk about it all is senator john mccain. welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> thank you. dancing with turkeys? >> chris: you'll have to

important to remember egypt is the largest country in the region by population. it clearly has sway over the stability of the region. we have seen that recently in the conflict between hamas or the minutes and the israelis. is it your sense that things are teetering? the whole region seems to teeter with it. >>reporter: when you have such a large crowd in a square with tear gas and rocks being thrown it can be sparked off, bad things can happen, when a few people are killed. it can lead to worst things happening. the other side has shown some real restraint. we saw consolation of a protest movement by the muslim brotherhood today. if you get both sizes demonstrating, that is a recipe for disaster, the other side has held back. >>shepard: so far, steve. thank you very much. >> the important thing here is, remember, it is presidential morsi who helped bring together this truce teen the israelis and hamas and the palestinians. if there are problems with morsi or situations change in egypt and theon is destagized that is as serious as anything we could report. we will bring in michael singh

good politics. >> last person. >> could we see the president announced concerns about egypt? could we see this president reached out to the president and talk about what is going on? >> the president, as you know, has broken no on numerous occasions with president -- has occasions mn numerous with numerousoris. -- with president morsi going forward. i do not have an agenda on what those conversations with look- alike. we have raised concerns. the state department put out a statement on this about the briefing. the state department have more information of this of a client how he has communicated those concerns. our interest is in the process, the transition to a democracy continuing in the development of a government that reflects the will of the egyptian people. we are working towards that. we believe it is in the interest of the american people and of the united states but also because it reflects the will and the interest of the egyptian people. >> democracy is in the process, but doesn't look like there is a transitioning to a dictatorship? >> important to take a step back. in

agreements with israel regarding the easing of the blockade and with egypt, are very vague. they're being negotiated today. i mean they're an agreement to, to negotiate things about them. which are continuing today in cairo. they may be temporary, they may be very, very limited, and they may never materialize at all what hamas has gained is first of all a certain diplomatic breakthrough. the amir of qatar went there before this happened. while it was going on, the prime minister of egypt went there the foreign minister of durky and foreign minister of tunisia went there. the prime minister of turkey may go. what hamas has been able to do is bring -- >> break out of its diplomatic cage a little bit. that's the benefit. the other thing is that this is a benefit to the people, the hamas factions in gaza who are fighting an internal power struggle with the external leadership that used to be based in damascus and is now disbursed all over the world. i think for different factions in hamas they've achieved things politically for themselves. the people of gaza may be in a sense of euphori

claim they do. we should distinguish those two. >> with israel and egypt, the blockade is very vague. they are being negotiated today. there's an agreement to negotiate things about them, which are continuing today in cairo. they may be temporary. they may be very, very limited and they may never materialize at all. what hamas has gained is, first of all, a certain diplomatic breakthrough. while it was going on, the prime minister of egypt went there, the foreign minister of turkey went there. what hamas has been able to do is -- >> international recognition. >> yeah. break out of its diplomatic cage a bit. that's the benefit. the other thing, this is a benefit to the people, the hamas people in gaza, fighting an internal power with the external leadership that used to be in damascus and is now dispursed all over the place. they achieved things for themselves. the people of gaza maybe in a sense of euphoria, but there's a sense of hangover. there ought to be, as there was, after cass led in 2008 and 2009, a clear contrast with a better situation. today there isn't one. that's the tra

>> eric: we'll be keeping tabs on egypt. >> shannon bream is next, live in washington. >> reporter: fresh protests in egypt, as angry demonstrators clash with police for a third day, after president morsi claims that new rules all but exempt him from balances. the egyptian stock market falls amid fears of balance. i'm shannon bream, live in washington. america's news headquarters begins with the latest from cairo with steve hariggan, standing by live. >> reporter: the numbers are building of protesters here in tahrir square, the number of tents growing as the protesters say they are here to stay and digging in. on the street below me, over the past few minutes, we have seen young protesters, lighting bottles on fire and running. the skirmishes have wounded more than 3 people. we have seen the military begin to move large concrete block, blocking off certain narrow alleyways and protecting government buildings. explosions can be heard behind me. right now, one key thing to watch is where the protests go next. we are expecting major demonstrations on both sides on tth. those who supp

state clinton has gone to egypt and the west bank helped broker a cease-fire deal. joining us now is michael oren who is is really ambassador to the united states it's great to have you with us today. >> good to be with you too, jenna. jenna: what information you have about the bombing? >> we don't know who is responsible yet, but we do know that hamas is celebrating. giving out candy to children, you can go on youtube and see that hamas supporters saying that they want more israeli body bags. it is about genocidal groups in gaza trying to kill the maximum number of israelis, while we are trying to defend ourselves and reduce the palestinian civilian casualties to the greatest extent that we can. the terrorists are digging in behind us million population. jenna: how has the cease fire talks been going? >> they have not been going well. they are discussing a long-term arrangement to put in a mechanism that prevent hamas from shooting at our population and paralyzing half the country. also stopping iran from smuggling long-range missiles into gaza. it is supposed to hit tel aviv and je

netanyahu. secretary clinton is in cairo where she met with president mohamed morsi of egypt who's mediating the discussions. as secretary clinton carries the official white house message there is new attention being paid to the president's strategic options in the region. "the washington post" writes president obama's decision to send his top diplomat on an emergency middle east peace making mission tuesday marked an administration shift to a more active vist role in the region's affairs and offered clues to how he may use the political elbow room afforded by a second term. beyond a cease-fire agreement, the president could try to throw his political clout behind a larger, long-term solution here. so far, no deal has materialized between israel and gaza. also, a bus bombing in tel aviv could push both sides further apart. 19 people were injured, three critically, in what was the first terror attack in israel in four years. police say, however, the incident was not a suicide bombing. joining me now, former assistant secretary of state, p.j. crowley and from tel aviv, nbc news corre

but while preparing israeli troops are gathering on the border. even as egypt works to broker a deal, former british prime minister tony blair traveled to tel aviv to sit down with israeli president perez. >> i hope that over the coming days we can achieve cessation on a basis that is sustainable. >> and joining me now from gaza, nbc news foreign correspondent ayman. what's the latest on what's happening in cairo? >> good afternoon, tamron. well egyptian officials have met with the leaders of the two major palestinian factions engaged in this military operation with israel. they're trying to get them to commit to a cessation of hostility force a period of 48 hours to allow for a longer truce to go into effect. the palestinians feel they have the upper hand here, and they are saying they will not stop their attacks into southern israel so long as israel maintains a siege on gaza. they want it lifted and they want guaranteed backed by the international community that israel will no longer engage and target and kill senior leaders of the palestinian factions here in gaza. they want

militias. we need to help the libyans train a national army. they were willing to pay for it. in egypt we really led from behind. this idea of having a hands off policy toward syria is about to blochb the whole region up. the war is coming to israel. it's affecting turkey and other places. so i believe that if they don't lead from the front that syria and iran are going to coming together and we're going to have a major conflict in the mideast. >> what was the best thing we got out the arab spring so far? >> the fact is authoritarian regimes have been overthrown the likelihood they will simply be replaced by other authoritarian regimes or some in some cases, yemen and libya qualify here the countries will descend into anarchy. parts will be controlled by al-qaeda and quote, unquote, success of the government controls very little territory. i think overall the arab spring has not brought democracy and light to middle east. it has brought a deterioration of the security situation and deterioration of the american interests and those of our friends and allies like israel and arab states. >>

, including libya, tunisia and egypt. the u.s. institute of peace post this to our discussion. >> good morning, everyone. i am steven heydemann, middle east initiative at the u.s. institute of peace and we are delighted to see you all here at today's session on security sector reform in the arab world. i think some of those who rsvp may have been scared away by the false rumor that you would be subjected to a political polling experience following the panel. that's not the case that you don't need to worry about that. were very pleased to have you out here with this morning. i would like to stress that our topic this morning i think is both particularly important, but also especially urgent. i don't think that it is an exaggeration to say that what happens with the security sectors in the arab world over the coming year or so, and by security service, i mean the police, the armed forces and most of all of course the very substantial intelligence apparatus is that exist in every arab country, that what happens with those sectors of the bureaucracy in the arab world will let her sleep determined

this conflict right now. the head of the united nations went to egypt today where he would appeal personally for deescalating the violence. why did he go to egypt? after ousting hosni mo bark, negotiations are going on as we speak and i hope we will reach something soon that will stop the violence and counter-violence. the whole world is working on trying to deescalate this conflict. the european union weighed in today as did russia. russia preparing a u.n. resolution calling for a cease fire. probably our closest ally abroad in matters of war and peace is britain, and they are taking the same line as president obama, although they are being even more direct about it. the foreign secretary saying that hamas bares responsibility for what's going on, but he warns that "a ground invasion of gaza would lose israel a lot of the international support they have in this situation." a ground invasion is more difficult for the international community to sympathize with or support. so the world, at least the world of the united states and our allies is pretty much speaking with one voice her

. we can do better than a last minute deal... that would hurt all of us. >>> breaking news from egypt. thousands of protesters gathered in tahrir square. 6:15 at night there, many have been chanting step down in reaction to the decree issue by egypt's new president that grants him absolute power. the sixth straight day of protest after morsi issued his decree last thursday. earlier today, the protest turning violent on a street near tahrir square. at least three protesters have been killed since the weekend. nbc live from cairo. and the crowd in tahrir square has been growing, building over the past hours. explain what we're seeing now. >> reporter: well, behind me, probably tens of thousands of egyptians have gathered, been here since the early hours of the morning. in fact, some have been camped out for the past six days. many songs, chants, slogans reminiscent of two years ago, calling on the same things they did two years ago, which is for the president of egypt to step down. they've changed the name, obviously, to reflect egypt's new islamist president. you mentioned that inciden

diplomat i canic talks continue in egypt, israel's leaders are preparing to take what they call operation pillar and defense. theyprominent netanyahuprime minister netanyahu and his cabinet deciding what to do. they said if israel was going to invade gaza, they would have done so already. after israel killed hamas' military commander in airstrike three israeli civilians have been killed and 70 wounded missile strikes that reached as far as tel aviv, 50 miles from gaza's northern border. but israel's iron dome defense system has knocked down hundreds of palestinian missiles, limiting casualties and damage. they have launched 1300 airstrikes against targets in gaza. 106 palestinians have been killed in the fighting. hospital officials say half of those killed were civilians. however, israeli officials say they believe the majority of those killed were militants for hamas or one of the associated palestinian terror groups. in bangkok thailand, president obama said sunday the u.s. while working to de-escalate the situation and end the fighting would stand behind its ally. >> we're f

able to do this. bear in mind, this is not the egypt of hosey you in barrack. the egyptian government now are muzz lum brotherhood, and israel is in a less-tenable negotiating position and they remain military strong but do they want to go in on the ground take hundreds of thousands of casualties? that they've within boehnered will cause them to lose the international support they have. it's one of those 50-50 chance things but it's looking like everybody is looking fair way out. the question is, in a region like this, is there a way out. >> schieffer: well allen pizzey, who always shows up in the worst place where's the workforce things are going on, thank you. cbs news correspondent charlie dag tais on the other side of the border in gaza. charlie, bring us up to speed. what is the situation like there. >> reporter: well, the mood here is extremely teps, and the biggest worry is this dangerous and unpredictable situation may be about to get worse. as we drove through the northern part gaza strip, we were shown a couple of bombed out buildings, and one looked to be three o

will tell us more about this later in the broadcast. that crisis in egypt is growing tonight. more than 200,000 protesters have filled cairo's tahrir square. they are angry with their new president, mohamed morsi who said last week that his decisions cannot be challenged by the courts which gives him almost absolute power. and our holly williams is above tahrir square in cairo this evening. holly, what's going on in the crowd behind you now? >> reporter: scott, we are seeing scenes reminisce september of the egyptian revolution. tahrir square was once again carpeted in people today, tens of thousands of people who poured in from every direction and they were chanting the same slogan that they chanted during the revolution. the people want the downfall of the regime. i was out on this square earlier today talking to people. some people are saying that they won't leave the streets until president morsi rescinds the decrees that have given him sweeping new powers. we've seen very low-level violence here in cairo, but in several other cities there have been violent confrontations between pr

tactic. >>> all right, straight ahead, crisis in egypt. the key players met this afternoon. are the president and top judges any closer to a deal to calm clashes in cairo? and why does what happened there matter here? that's next. with the spark cash card from capital one, sven gets great rewards for his small business! how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! woo-hoo!!! so that's ten security gators, right? put them on my spark card! why settle for less? testing hot tar... great businesses deserve great rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? here's your invoice. campbell's has 24 new soups that will make it drop over, and over again. ♪ from jammin' jerk chicken, to creamy gouda bisque. see what's new from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magne

a test period to s see. it's currently negotiated in egypt right now with egypt continuing. the next phase is going to be whether or not the various restrictions on movements across the border. the israelis have said they will consider that. not entirely. # this is very much a first step at this point in time. >> thanks so much. fred, what's the situation there right now? >> reporter: well, the people here are also quite happy that there's no many rockets raining down on them. what you're not going to be seeing here on the israeli side is celebration. that's because people believe that hamas will regroup and fire rockets at israel again. here is what some people told me today. after a week long military operation and rocket barrages fired from gaza you were they're trying to get back to normal. in the town that suffered through so many air raid alarms this is the first time he can take his kid shopping without fear. >> you feel like you're back to life. >> reporter: you won't see people celebrating the cease-fire here. many saying it's did achieve the main objective of stopping

the middle east by population? it turns out it's not at all a close call. it's egypt, by a lot. more than one in five people in the middle east is egyptian. it's not the richest country, it's not geographically in the middle, but it is the center of gravity for both population and the politics of that whole blessed region. geographically, more toward the middle of the whole middle east is the nation of israel, comparatively tiny. if you want to understand where the fighting is centered, you have to zoom in even further to a whole different scale to even be able to see what the relevant border is over which this fighting is happening. looking at it in that context, you might ask, what's that giant border right next to this relativity tiny place being fought over? that's egypt. that's the egyptian border right up next to this tiny strip of land where the fighting is happening in gaza. that's why part of why this was such a big deal. egypt and israel shaking hands. thank you jimmy carter. the peace treaty between this important country, the nation of israel. but jimmy carter, it turns o

cairo, egypt today, between protesters and police. the protesters have been demanding that egypt's new president rescind the decree he had last thursday granting him absolute power. tens of thousands of protesters rallied in caikacairo's tahrir square. two of e jim's top courts today suspended their work in protest of president mohamed morsi's decr decree. joining me to talk more about the middle east is ambassador dennis ross, an expert on the region. he was the chief middle east negotiate for president clinton and president bush and served as a special adviser for president obama. he is a mideast analyst. both supporters and opponents are planning more giant protests on friday as well as sad. what's your assessment of the situation and the back and forth between the two sides? >> well, i think what we're seeing is is that this is a new egypt. anybody who thought that president morsi could come in and act like president mubarak and could rule as opposed to govern, there's no doubt that's not the case. there's no doubt he miscalculated. he thought in the aftermath of brokering a ce

. >>> more than 100,000 people packed cairo's tahrir square chanting against egypt's president who they say wants to become a dictator. [ chanting ] >> police are fighting back demonstrators with tear gas. so far at least one person is dead and almost 400 injured as a result of the violence. >>> forensic teams in the west bank city of ramallah have exhumed the body of yasser arafat. a big blue tarp surrounded his grave as workers drilled through layers of concrete to reach the tomb. a murder investigation began last summer after a swiss lab found high levels of a deadly radioactive substance on arafat's clothing. now investigators have taken samples from his remains to determine if he was in fact poisoned. >>> heavy rains are flooding the uk. take a look. people were forced from their homes as streets turned into rivers in wales and england. crews rescued one elderly man and at least 500 homes have been affected and 70,000 more are at risk. we're expecting some pretty heavy rains here too. >> we are. hope it doesn't get to the point of being floods in the bay area but you want to be ever vi

egypt's prime minister plans to visit gaza, gaza, that is, tomorrow. now, don't forget a peace agreement that keeps israel and egypt on good terms. there were real questions about whether that was going to be honored by the new muslim brotherhood president of egypt, and now we find out that this egyptian leader is going to go visit gaza in the midst of rising, escalating tensions between gaza and the israelis. now we want to get back to re land visit earth who is live near the israel/gaza border. so basically, leland, the rockets kept showering into israel, somebody, the head of hamas -- they call him hamas' osama bin laden, basically, took credit for the bloodshed being unleashed in israel. and israel bombed that guy, killed that guy, and now it seems to be escalating from there. >> reporter: exactly, megyn. his assassination happened yesterday around 4 p.m., and hamas came out and said israel has declared war and, quote, opened the gates of hell. and those kinds of words are not things that are thrown around lightly all over the middle east. and definitely as we saw it today,

the weapons to egypt and hold the egyptian government responsible for hamas abide big the truce. so it is not about what both sides don't want, because they both want to avoid war, but what they want to come out of this appearing victorious or at least gained within their own political frameworks, and this is what is difficult for the egyptian media to bring these two sides together. >> thank you, so much from gaza. be safe. >>> and now to the middle east where president obama is now in cambodia, the third and the final stop on a multiday and multicountry tour. the president arrived in cambodia at 5:00 a.m. eastern time, and becoming the first sitting u.s. president to visit there. while in cambodia, the president is going to be meeting with a leaders at a dinner of the asian summit. and yesterday he made a historic meeting in myanmar where he met with parliament elected leader aun san suu kyi. >> this is not an endorsement of the burmese government, but it is an acknowledgment that there is a process under way inside of that country that even a year and a half, two years ago, nobod

the ambassador responds. >>> plus, the people of egypt trying to avoid trading one dictator for another. fighting back against a president who gave himself new powers. tonight a potential crisis point as the leader tries to put himself above the law. and how will the u.s. handle this? >>> plus, the chances of winning are ridiculously low. but millions of us are still lining up for a shot at a record powerball jackpot. >> lucky, lucky, lotto win. >> shepard: tonight a look at the actual odds of winning it all. but first from fox this tuesday night, three republican senators now say they cannot support the u.n. ambassador, susan rice, for secretary of state. at least until they get more answers about her comments about the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. president obama has not yet even nominated her. but the white house says she is enormously qualified. senators john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte say they're even more troubled now after meeting with ambassador rice. the attack on libya on september 11 killed the u.s. ambassador, cries stevens and three other a

start with -- first of all, they're in egypt, in cairo trying to negotiate a settlement here, but we have in cairo, we know what the prime minister did when he went to hamas. >> the only way to stop what's happening right now to the people of israel which is dozens of rockets being fired against civilians is to go to the place where they all originate, and that's iran. the pressure ought not to be put on the people of israel or the government of israel. what we're seeing is publicly obama goes out and says they have the inherent right of self defense, but privately what's happening is israel israelis arg warned not to go on the ground. as you reported, they're on the edge of it. they're going to have to if they're going to stop this ultimately the pressure against israel doesn't come diplomatly. it comes by threatening to cut off the parts change for those f-f-15s and f-16s they need tour dinorder to keep their plen the air. >> nixon helped save israel when he was president by supplying israel with. >> absolutely. >> the parts they needed and the supplies they needed. >> ronald ra re

three ceasefires in the last month all violated by the terror groups. egypt mediated quietly to bring quiet to the region. three times in the last month and there have been 300 rockets fired at israel within the last month from inside gaza. every time we try to reach a ceasefire with hamas, it was violated from their side. we don't want the rocket fire. we'd be crazy to want rocket fire on tel aviv tonight. we have 5 million people under rocket fire from tel aviv to jerusalem down to the outskirts of gaza. we don't want this situation. >> both sides always say the other side broke the ceasefire. that i know you're representing a position and i respect that and i'm glad you came on here. i've got to ask you about the statehood question. for me, for decades now i've been saying don't go the violence route don't go to truffle, it's stupid, immoral not going to give you your position and you don't kill civilians and then have the moral high ground. they go for statehood and say this is the peaceful solution and this is exactly what israel did. we're going to the u.n. what's wrong with tha

republican reset, the fiscal cliff, of course, and the coup in egypt, the president seemingly in search of a campgn. after a long holiday weekend, does anyone remember been gauzy? to find out, we are joined by of and the daily column founder and editor cockies contributor. thank you. let's start with republican party. is that o strong a word? in disarray. >> i think disarray is a little strong right now. we will see. it is one thing to talk about these issues so far in advance. in terms of the norquist tax pledge and certainly the susan rice, these are noises that you made to sound concliatory after an election, and we think back to 2009. the republicans sounded very conciliatory in the days after president obama's reelection when hewas holding a high approval rating, but by april or may of his first year that that had melted away. so right now is happy talk from the republicans. we will see whether that materializes into votes. lou: such happy talk, why aren't there mre smiling faces in the republican party? >> pretty unhappy talk from what i can tell, and to this point pretty frivolous. yo

country back on track. i think how he egypt plays it's cards is going to play a big role on the territory. with egypt at the back hamas will go all out. if they are telling hamas we are have the brother hood. and we have to find a way out of this with stabbility in tact that is going to be a different outcome. >> i think there is no question it was justified. the attacks, they had gone crazy in terms of the scope and intensity. the problem is that the people there, they have a tactical approach here. they are hitting back and have been trying to do this. israel has invaded gaza and these are tactical moves and they succeed. but what is the strategy to deal with gaza? how does this help and how does it play out with the regional strategy? so, i think there is no question it is just fied, the question is, is it smart? is. >> there is real concern and if you don't have cooperation, ultimately you can't control gaza. this undermines the authority and probably is going to undermine the un path which it might like because it shows that the palestinians are divided. we spoke to the prime ministe

but he has publicly backed the palestinian effort. last week's egypt prime minister visited with them and promised egypt's support and promised their actions would not go unnoticed. palestinian leaders have upped their demands in negotiations calling for the end of israel's five-year blockade on gaza and also calling for a pledge by israel not to fire on the territory again and an international deal ensuring that israel would keep its word. but back in the united states senator john mccain called for the u.s. to offer its own mediator to try to bring out a permanent truce. >> the united states of america has got to push as hard as we can to resolve this israeli/palestinian issue. so many events hinge on making that process go forward. find someone even as high ranking, frankly, as former president bill clinton to go and be the negotiator. i know he'd hate me for saying that, but we need a person of enormous prestige and influence to have these parties sit down together as an honest broker, but we have a lot of work to do to regain some credibility because we're crumbling all over

on the headquarters of egypt's muslim brotherhood. the party of egyptian president mohammed morsi as he agrees to new talks about over his controversial decision to grant himself sweeping new powers. steve harrigan is streaming live from care row. what can you tell us. >> details of the offices of the muslim brotherhood. attack happened about 70 miles outside of cairo. one of the regional offices. one person killed in the attack, 60 wounded. here in cairo security forces skirmishes continues you can hear sirens and ambulances as well as tear gas is popped off as several thousand protestors are demonstrating to show their unhappiness. >> gregg: will morsi plan on meeting the judges tomorrow and what will they be talking about? >> as you know the judges across the country have threatened to go out on strike over this power grab by the egyptian president. there has been a meeting scheduled for tomorrow between morrisi and the judges no word of a cancellation. it could be an attempt by the egyptian president to reach out to opponents trying to draw black from the violence that has escala

will get worse before it gets better. one thing nbc has confirmed is egypt's prime minister will make an unprecedented visit to the gaza strip on friday. he's leading a high delegation of cabinet officials to mediate and perhaps broker a truce between the israelis and palestinians but more importantly to express solidarity with the people of gaza who he says are now subject to israeli aggression. >> let me bring in nbc's martin fletcher in tel aviv. martin, senior u.s. officials told nbc news to expect more from israel later today. can you add to that information? >> reporter: well, yeah, the israelis are making it as clear as they possibly can they will do anything it takes to stop the palestinian attacks on israel and to make the southern cities of israel secure. the defense minister said today and he emphasized this, and we will do anything, and i repeat anything to keep those cities secure. the israelis are emphasizing repeatedly from different sources they'll do whatever it takes. when the americans warn that israel will do more this evening, they're echoing what the israeli spok

and egypt's foreign minister announced the deal in cairo after the secretary spent the day in intense face-to-face talks with the leaders of israel, the palestinian authority and egypt. >> this is a critical moment for the region. egypt's new government is assuming the responsibility and leadership it has long made this country a cornerstone of regional stability and peace. >> we're still learning details of the agreement between the israelis and hamas. egypt and the united states apparently have assumed important major roles in keeping the peace and preventing new supplies of rockets from being smuggled into gaza. president obama spoke by phone today with the leaders of both egypt and israel. >> translator: i have agreed with the president that israel and the united states would work together to prevent the smuggling of arms to the terror organizations. the vast majority of which comes from iran. >> throughout this crisis cnn has positioned crews throughout the region including correspondents in egypt and on both sides of the israeli/gaza border. the celebrations in gaza city

. the election is over. >> nbc's mike viqueira reporting. >>> overseas to egypt where the country's newly elected leader has granted himself unchecked power sparking days of clashes and sending the country's stock market into a freefall. our reporter is in cairo with the very latest. ayman, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. egypt's stock market opened for a second straight day, and it plunged already by 4%. now, that's already a day after it lost 10%, and officials there had to stop trading just to prevent it from declining any further. that's the economic turmoil this country finds itself in. there are tons of other political and social unrest unfolding across the egyptian capital, cairo. a short while from now, mourners are going to be praying for one of the victims, and they'll be burying him as well as another one that died in clashes overnight. as a result, egypt's president says he's going to hold meetings today with some of the country's top officials, including the judges who, over the past few days, have called for nationwide strikes. right now they and several other

twitter, warning israel has "opened the gates of hell" on itself. egypt has recalled its ambassador to israel. and the u.s. state department condemned the strikes fired from gaza and supporting israel's right to defend indianapoltself. what is the latest on the attacks and the tafailout? >> what we are seeing are more rockets coming into israel. there have been dozens of air strikes as well since the killing of ahmed al jabari, the li leader of hamas' military wing, one of the founders of hamas. one of the huge blow to hamas now. the government there in gaza. israel is also telling us and we've just heard this from its military spokesperson, that they are bringing in reservists, that they are considering a ground war, but have not yet given the go ahead for that, but they are preparing. we know that they have been firing from the air with the air strikes, but we also thap thkno they have firing from the sea. they are firing into gaza, and according to residents in gaza, at one point, they said it seemed as if it was raining bombs in gaza. you can see some of the fires there. a big fall

pivotal meeting that could potentially ease the crisis in egypt or push that country into further chaos. that is one of our big stories. we're glad you're with us. i'm jenna lee. jon:. i'm jon scott. the first elected leader, president mohammed morsi expected to come face-to-face with senior judges in egypt who say his power grab has gone too far. there are indications that the both side are trying to find some middle ground. morsi's maneuver unleased a rage of protests that continues to rage across the country. meanwhile the u.s. embassy in cairo says there are sporadic clashes between protesters and police near its entrance. we're told some rocks landed inside the walls of that huge compound. embassy officials say there is no indication they are the target. egypt wields enormous influence in the middle east peac process. that power demonstrated by brokering the cease-fire between is rainfall and hamas. steve care began streaming live too cairo with the latest developments right now. steve? >> reporter: jon, this is a key meeting between egypt's president and the chief justices i